KHARTOUM, April 16 (Xinhua) -- The United States urged the Sudanese government on Monday to approve the deployment of a hybrid force made up of African Union (AU) and United Nations troops in the restive western Sudanese region of Darfur.  

    Visiting U.S. Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte told a press conference that a UN-AU hybrid peacekeeping force was critical to the success of a Darfur peace deal signed by the Sudanese government and one rebel group in 2006.

    "We must move quickly to a larger hybrid United Nations-African Union peacekeeping force with a single unified chain of command that conforms to UN standards and practices," Negroponte said.  

    But in an apparent move to ease Khartoum's fear of a western-dominated force to be sent to Darfur, Negroponte said that the hybrid force would be predominantly African, and would be led by an African.

    "We also acknowledge and have agreed that the preponderance,the majority of these forces will be recruited from African countries and the commander of this United Nations-African Union force will also be from Africa," Negroponte said.

    The U.S. official also urged the conflicting parties in Darfur to stop attacks targeting civilians, adding that more efforts should be exerted in order to make those who had not signed the Darfur Peace Agreement (DPA) to join the peace process.  

    The Sudanese government signed the DPA on May 2006 with only one of the three rebel groups taking part in the peace talks.  

    He said that an improvement of the relations between Sudan and the United States was related to a permanent political solution of the Darfur problem.

    Negroponte also said Sudan's record on humanitarian access to Darfur was "not encouraging."

    "When it comes to humanitarian access the government of Sudan's record is not encouraging. The denial of visas, the harassment of aid workers and other measures have created the impression that the government is engaged in a deliberate campaign of intimidation," he said.

    He admitted however that an agreement signed between the Sudanese government and the United Nations on March 28 to boost the humanitarian works in the war-torn western Sudanese region of Darfur was an "encouraging step."

    In the agreement, the Sudanese government promised to take "fast track" measures to facilitate the access to aid groups,including speeding up visas for humanitarian workers. 

    The U.S. deputy secretary of state arrived in Khartoum on Thursday on an official visit in Sudan, which is the first leg of his first trip in African countries since he took office in January this year. 

    During the visit, the U.S. official held talks with Sudanese President Omer al-Bashir and other senior Sudanese officials on the latest developments in Darfur.

    He also made a tour in Darfur and visited south Sudan, where he held a meeting in Juba with Sudanese First Vice President and President of the South Sudanese government Salva Kiir Mayardit.